Blog posts – Page 6 – sue orton

our precious world

As Paris is the focus for discussions about the world response to climate change this week, two books I have read and am re-reading come to mind.

Landmarks crafted and compiled by Robert Macfarlane is a most beautiful meditation, reflection, verging on poetry, in praise of landscape. It seems we are letting the language of the countryside slip through our fingers and minds, so thank goodness Robert Macfarlane is on the case to help. Gathered over many years from many sources this book is brilliant and we need to keep searching and recording! Here are some gems:
stoach: to churn up waterlogged land as cattle do in winter Kent, Sussex. There’s a lot of this about around here just now.
yark: cold, wild stormy weather, Exmoor.
And a personal favourite which I can’t stop looking out for: smeuse: the gap in the base of a hedge made by the regular passage of small animals, Sussex dialect.

If the effects of climate change seem too huge to get a handle on then Adventures in the Anthropocene might illuminate things. Gaia Vince a journalist and broadcaster specialising in science and the environment, wanted to discover the effects of climate change from different communities in the world, so she gave up her job and travelled the world finding out. I am finding it very powerful and inspiring. There’s a guy making small glaciers every year in Nepal to store drinking water for the crops in Spring because the large glaciers have disappeared in his lifetime. Wi-fi is helping local farmers share market prices of their goods before they walk for several days to find it’s not worth it! This book weaves stories from individuals into a astonishing global story and presents a surprisingly positive picture of the world. The book won Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2015.
© sue orton

thank you Manchester

As ever I received a great northern welcome from everyone at Manchester BIMM. The winter cold and rain didn’t dampen spirits; I was glad of my duffle coat. This term has been a crazy one for tutors with a new building opening, emergency timetables, everyone getting used to new systems; folk are tired and stressed yet still delivering good sessions! I stayed at The Palace but had a cold room on the 4th floor and miles of corridors to navigate so not ideal. However I shall be returning in the new year. © sue orton

hedgehogs

Screen Shot 2015-11-21 at 11.41.48 As the cold weather sweeps into UK for the first time this year my mind turns to hedgehogs, european hedgehogs to be precise. They are in trouble, deep trouble and we can all do a little something to help them.

* Leave a wild corner or two in gardens, fields and parks which offers shelter, protection and natural foods.
* Buy or make a hedgehog home for hibernation or nesting in Spring.
* Check bonfires thoroughly and move sleeping hedgehogs to safety before lighting.

Further information and action 🙂
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

Hedgehog Street is a campaign aimed at ensuring the hedgehog, the UK’s only spiny mammal, remains a common and familiar part of British life. We know hedgehogs are in trouble. We’ve lost a third of all our hedgehogs in ten years.

women writers 2

At last some winter cold; more reason to tuck up with a book when you can. Two books by women writers new to me have been woven around the Indian subcontinent throughout the last 200 years. I have family links into India with relatives in the Indian Army right through the last century. Despite many stories, there is rarely any mention of the experience of the women of my family; when time allows I intend to rectify this. So to the books. The research, the detail and sense of place in both were wonderful. I was drawn into the physical and emotional lives of characters. Women’s roles were especially vivid for me, showing how ’empire’ expectations, cultural norms and harsh restrictions affected their lives, their mental health and their choices.

Kamila Shamsie | A God in Every Stone
Summer of 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivien Rose Spencer is in an ancient land about to discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure and love. Thousands of miles away a 20 year old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army. Vivien has been separated from the man she loves; Qayyum has lost an eye at Ypres. They meet on a train in Peshawar unaware that a connection is about to be forged between them – which will be revealed fifteen years later. © Bloomsbury

umi sinha | belonging
From the darkest days of the British Raj to the aftermath of the First World War, Belonging tells the interwoven story of three generations and their struggles to understand and free themselves from a troubled history steeped in colonial violence and prejudice. © Myriad Editions

Buy both books through Wordery.

autumn explorations 1

Autumn colours strike mixed notes for me; inspiring in their richness, tempting to scuff and dance through, yummy fruit, wool and boots revisited, yet reflective and pausing as clocks go back. Coppicing has begun. One of my favourite places is Tottington Wood in Small Dole. Woodlanders meet there every Sunday morning through the winter and celebrate the winter Solstice. My weaver has been gathering ideas this week too for an autumn tweed.

women writers 1

While puzzling what to read over the summer I made a list of women writers who had won literary prizes (or been short listed) over the last few years. I decided I would share my explorations so far. Happy reading.

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Told from the perspective of an elderly women who is intent upon clinging onto clues and hunches of a mystery despite her failing memory and faculties. It’s wonderful, although an unsettling glimpse into our futures.

The Bees by Laline Paull Bees
Flora bee 717 survives to live a life amongst and between
the strict hierarchy of the hive, subverting and challenging
‘normality’ as she goes; Flora is a feisty survivor.
An amazing imaginative book which I found hard to put down.